Ulster University researchers look to target illness through DNA profile
When you visit your GP in the future, your prescription could be based on your DNA profile.
That's the vision of geneticists and medical researchers at Ulster University where pioneering research is looking to target illness and disease through our genomes.
The scientists believe that they can match each patient's individual DNA profile to the medications that will work best for them.
If successful, it would prevent inappropriate or ineffective medications being prescribed. It would also cut hospital queues and reduce the number of GP consultations - the potential savings to the NHS could be enormous.
Right now Health Service budgets are facing a squeeze like never before, and drugs that don't work properly - and some drugs that can make a patient ill - are a drain on the NHS.
Ulster University says that 7% of hospital admissions are caused by medications that have been prescribed to patients.
That figure rises to a shocking 15% when it comes to patients aged 65 and older.
Ulster University's Personalised Medicine Centre is based in Londonderry, and makes use of laboratories at Altnagelvin Hospital and research facilities at Ulster's Magee Campus. The university team examines a patient's unique DNA profile to see which drugs will work best for that individual, and crucially which medicines will be less effective.
David Gibson told UTV: "We can use our genome to fit medicines to the individual, not to the disease itself.
"We can think of this a little bit like if you wanted to get a tailor or a dressmaker to make a suit or an outfit for you, it's not unlike then going to your doctor and the same idea of getting your genome or your DNA measured and getting your medicines prescribed to fit your need, to fit your genome," he added.
"It's about trying to get the right medicine to the right person at the right time, and improve the outcomes for that individual and reduce the burdens on the primary care and secondary care sectors.
"We really need to do better and remove treatments that aren't working and remove treatments that are potentially putting that patient at risk."
Scientists at the Personalised Medicine Centre believe DNA testing like this will become part of the healthcare landscape, David Gibson said getting your genome analysed for medical use can be done quickly.
"One of the ways is with saliva, just a spit sample. It could be as quick as 20 minutes," he explained.
The researchers say that targeting the right drugs to the right person will mean fewer side-effects and better patient outcomes, as well as reducing the number of hospital admissions to free up staff and resources for a health service that needs relief from pressures which show no sign of easing.
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